The Universe according to The Universe according to NASA…NASA…

with a little help from some friendswith a little help from some friends

Lynn Cominsky

Press Agent to the Stars

(the real stars, that is)

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National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

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Space

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Aerospace Technology

Biological and Physical Research

Space Science

Earth Science

Human Exploration and Development of Space

NASA ENTERPRISES

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Mars Exploration

program

New Millennium Program

Living with a Star

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Astronomy and Physics Division

Infrared, Visible and Ultraviolet

Radio, Microwave, X-ray, Gamma-ray, Gravity, Cosmic Rays

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Astronomical Search for OriginsAstronomical Search for Origins

1. Where do we come from? 2. Are we alone? Origins is the story of our cosmic

roots, told in terms of all that precedes us: the origin and development of galaxies, stars, planets, and the chemical conditions necessary to support life.

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Structure and Evolution of the Structure and Evolution of the UniverseUniverse

1. To explain structure in the Universe and forecast our cosmic destiny;

2. To explore the cycles of matter and energy in the evolving Universe;

3. To examine the ultimate limits of gravity and energy in the Universe ranging from the closest stars to the most distant quasars.

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Structure and Evolution of the Structure and Evolution of the Universe MissionsUniverse Missions

ACE HETE-2ASTRO E2 INTEGRALChandra LISACHIPS MAPConstellation-X RXTEGALEX SWASGLAST SwiftGravity Probe B XMM-Newton Not yet launched In orbit

Hubble

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What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

ASTRO-E2

Chandra

CHIPS Con-X

GALEXGLAST

HETE-2

INTEGRAL

MAP

RXTE

SWAS

XMM-Newton

Swift

Energy (eV)

Radio Infrared Visible UV X-ray Gamma ray

ACE

GP-B LISA

Misfits of Science:

11http://universe.sonoma.edu

Your first choice for on-line information!

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SEU Main research areasSEU Main research areasCosmic Microwave BackgroundX-ray AstronomyGamma-ray AstronomyGravity

Coming soon ---- Beyond Einstein!

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Cosmic Microwave BackgroundCosmic Microwave Background

Discovered in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson who were working at Bell Labs

Clinched the hot big bang theory

Excess noise in horned antennae was not due to pigeon dung!

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Photons in CMBR come from surface of last scattering – where they stop interacting with matter and travel freely through space

CMBR photons emanate from a cosmic photosphere – like the surface of the Sun – except that we inside it looking out

The cosmic photosphere has a temperature which characterizes the radiation that is emitted

It has cooled since it was formed by more than 1000 to 2.73 degrees K

Cosmic Microwave BackgroundCosmic Microwave Background

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COBECOBE

3 instruments: FIRAS, DMR and DIRBE

Cryogens ran out on 9/ 21/ 90 ending observations by FIRAS and longer wavelengths of DIRBE

DMR and the shorter wavelengths of DIRBE operated until 11/23/93

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COBE data/FIRASCOBE data/FIRAS Far InfraRed Absolute Spectrophotometer

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COBE DMRCOBE DMR Differential Microwave Radiometer 3 different wavelengths 2 antennae for each wavelength, 7

degree beam Pointed 60 degrees apart

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COBE data/DMRCOBE data/DMR

Dipole due to movement of Solar System

warm

cool

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COBE data/DMRCOBE data/DMR Dipole removed to show “wrinkles”

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COBE data/DMRCOBE data/DMR Fluctuations in CMB seen by DMR are at

the level of one part in 100,000

Blue spots mean greater density

Red spots mean lesser density

(in the early Universe)

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CMBR FluctuationsCMBR Fluctuations COBE measures the angular fluctuations on

large scales, down to about L=16

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CMBR FluctuationsCMBR Fluctuations Determining the spectrum of fluctuations in

the CMBR can directly differentiate between models of the Universe

Angular size of

fluctuation

How much power there is

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BOOMERanGBOOMERanG Balloon Observations Of Millimeter

Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics 12 - 20 arc min resolution – about 35 times

better than COBE Two flights: 1998/99 (10 days) and 1999/00 Sensitive to temperature differences as small

as 0.0001 degrees C Imaged 2.5% of entire sky

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BOOMERanG vs. COBEBOOMERanG vs. COBE1800 square

degrees of sky

-300K +300 K

moon

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BOOMERanG 1998 DataBOOMERanG 1998 DataWhat the

fluctuations would look like to scale on the real sky above the BOOMERanG balloon launch facilities

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Microwave Anistropy ProbeMicrowave Anistropy Probe L2 is one of the 3

semi-stable points in the Earth-Sun binary system

Another body can orbit at this point at a fixed distance from the Earth and the Sun with corrections every 23 days

MAP launched 6/30/01

Reached L2 10/1/01

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Microwave Anistropy ProbeMicrowave Anistropy Probe

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Microwave Anistropy ProbeMicrowave Anistropy Probe

Dipole as predicted byi MAP simulations

Fluctuations as predicted by MAP

simulations

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MAP limitsMAP limits MAP will

have error bars as shown in yellow, improving data until about Leff = l000

First MAP data release expected 01/03!!

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X-ray Astronomy – a brief X-ray Astronomy – a brief historyhistory

Began in 1962 with the discovery of first extra-solar X-ray source in a rocket flight by Giacconi et al. (Sco X-1)

First satellite was SAS-A aka Uhuru (1970-3)

Uhuru

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X-ray AstronomyX-ray Astronomy First imaging X-ray satellite was Einstein

Observatory (1978-81)Currently in orbit: RXTE, Chandra and

XMM-Newton (ESA/NASA)

Einstein

Chandra

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X-ray SourceryX-ray Sourcery Earliest source was Sun – corona and flares

Then neutron stars and black holes in accreting binaries were discovered to be strong x-ray emitters – 10 orders of magnitude greater!

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Stellar evolution made simpleStellar evolution made simple

Neutron Stars all have ~1.4 solar massesBlack holes have more than 3 solar

masses…to billions!

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A more complicated view…A more complicated view…

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The First Black HoleThe First Black Hole Cygnus X-1 binary

system Identified in 1972 Most likely mass

of BH is 16 (+/- 5) solar masses

Mass determined by Doppler shift measurements of optical lines

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Rossi X-ray Timing ExplorerRossi X-ray Timing ExplorerLaunched in 1995 – still operationalLarge area X-ray detectors to study timing

details of material falling into black holes or onto the surfaces of neutron stars

• 5 proportional counters with a total collecting area of 6500 square cm

• Energy range: 2 - 60 keV

• Time resolution: 1 microsec

• Spatial resolution: 1 degree

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““Old Faithful” Black HoleOld Faithful” Black Hole

Binary black hole system known as “microquasar”

Regular X-ray outbursts discovered with RXTE

Outbursts are linked to appearance of IR jets

movie

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Chandra X-ray ObservatoryChandra X-ray Observatory 1 arcsecond images

“HST of X-ray Astronomy”

Breakthroughs in every area of study– Stars– Compact Objects– Galaxies– Galaxy Clusters

1-10 keV X-rays Launched 7/23/99

Cas A SNR shows central NS in one of Chandra’s first images

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Chandra X-ray ObservatoryChandra X-ray Observatory

X-ray spectroscopy shows chemical element distribution

                              

Silicon

IronCalcium

Total Cas A

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Chandra dataChandra data At least 80% of X-ray background is made of

discrete sources including two new types: Very distant galaxies with faint black holes Bright black holes without visible galaxies

Results were from comparing Chandra data to deep optical surveys from Keck

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Black Holes Are Everywhere!Black Holes Are Everywhere!

Black holes in quasars

QSO

Galaxy

Empty

Black holes in“normal” galaxies

Black holes in empty space

Chandra deep field

Deep Image

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XMM-Newton MissionXMM-Newton Mission

Complementary to Chandra - launched 12/10/99 Higher spectral resolution, poorer imaging XMM-Newton focuses on details of X-ray spectral

lines from stars, black holes, galaxies, and galaxy clusters

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XMM-Newton MissionXMM-Newton MissionNested grazing incidence optics

Reflection Grating Spectrometer

Gamma-ray Astronomy: Gamma-ray Astronomy: The Big PictureThe Big Picture

Whole sky glows

Extreme environments

Probes of the Universe

CGRO/EGRET All Sky Map

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Early Gamma-ray AstronomyEarly Gamma-ray Astronomy

• Gamma-ray Bursts• Vela Program : A Bomb or Not a Bomb?• A few hundred events, a few hundred theories

• Gamma-ray Sources• SAS-2 – discovered 2 pulsars (1972)• COS-B – about 25 sources (1975-82)• Most unidentified, but 1 quasar• Diffuse extra-galactic background

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CGRO (1991-2000)CGRO (1991-2000)

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Sources of Sources of -ray Emission-ray Emission

• Black holes• Active Galaxies• Pulsars• Diffuse emission• Supernovae• Gamma-ray bursts• Unidentified

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BATSEBATSE

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Gamma-Ray BurstsGamma-Ray Bursts

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Distribution of GRBs in the SkyDistribution of GRBs in the Sky

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EGRETEGRET

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CGRO/EGRET dataCGRO/EGRET data 30-40% of gamma-ray background is

unresolved and extragalactic in origin

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New Missions = Better DataNew Missions = Better Data

Swift (2003) GLAST (2006)

HETE II (launched 10/9/00) INTEGRAL (2002)

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• Repoints within 50 s after detecting GRB to obtain X-ray and optical data

• Detects about 150 GRBs per year and their afterglows

• Sends initial coordinates of burst to ground within 15 s

• Sends high resolution coordinates of GRB to ground within 50 s

• Determines distance to burst within 1000 seconds

COMING SOON!

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Explore the era of star formation in the universe, the physics of dark matter and the creation and evolution of galaxies

GLAST ScienceGLAST Science

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GLAST designGLAST design

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GLAST TechnologiesGLAST Technologies

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GLAST All Sky MapGLAST All Sky Map

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Gravity – the final frontier?Gravity – the final frontier? Gravity Probe B – will measure frame dragging

from Earth orbit – due for launch in 2003

LISA – will look for gravitational radiation emitted from merging black holes, etc.

movie

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Gravitational RadiationGravitational Radiation

The strongest signal comes from two black holes

LISA - First space based Gravitational Wave

Telescope

Black hole mergers in distant galaxies will test General Relativity in the extreme